Reflective Moments Moments Reflective Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph
May 2010
The purpose of Reflective Moments is to offer you a way to incorporate the spirit of Saint Angela Merici into your own lives. We hope that it enriches you spiritually.
Jesus Our Guide By Sister Marietta Wethington, OSU
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t is Easter Monday as I write this, and the celebration of the Triduum at our motherhouse is still fresh in my memory. The services were truly profound and moving. On Thursday evening the presider invited us to heed the command of Jesus who said, “Do this in memory of me,” as he washed the feet of the disciples. We, too, are called to foot-washing service by looking around us and doing those things that need to be done. The real challenge for me came when we were asked if there is anyone whose feet we are unwilling to wash. On Friday we heard that “do this” is about the Eucharist and service. It is also about living a life of nonviolence as Jesus did. Jesus refused to become the violence that was done to him. Isaiah’s suffering servant was “harshly treated …opened not his mouth; …like a lamb led to the slaughter…he was silent. … oppressed and condemned he was taken away….” In the reading of the Passion we see Jesus rejected, mocked, spat upon, beaten. His response was not one of violence. He refused to become the violence he received. The learning in that for us is to not allow the unkind treatment we receive from others become a part of who we are. • I will not become the unkindness that I experience. • I will not become the rejection that I experience. • I will not become the judgments, the criticisms that are spoken about me. • I will not become the anger, the suffering of any kind I experience. • I will not become the disappointment that life deals me. Can I live the nonviolent lifestyle that Jesus modeled? I believe we each want to answer, “It will not be easy, but I will strive to live it.” During the vigil service on Holy Saturday we heard that “God is good all the time. All the time God is good.” It is all about blessing. We must “unbind the pain from the blessing” and discover what God would have us learn. We refuse to be defined by our own limitations but in the face of them to really believe that God is good all the time. As we continue to celebrate the 50 days of Easter, let’s look to the women who went to the grave early on that first Easter Sunday morning and found it empty. Let’s imitate the faith they demonstrated when they were told that Jesus was no longer dead but living and had gone before them to Galilee. May we, too, believe that we will encounter him alive, present, and active in our lives if we refuse to live in fear and open ourselves to the fullness of life that Jesus desires us to have.
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For Your Reflection
How do you answer Jesus’ call to service in your daily life? Is there anyone whose feet you are not willing to wash? What do you want to do about that? How and when do you imitate Jesus’ life of nonviolence? Quietly sit and allow those persons who have hurt you to surface in your memory. Speak with Jesus and Angela about the deepest desires of your heart for you and for them. Ask Jesus and Angela what their desires for you and those persons are. Ask God to bless those persons with all the blessings you desire for yourself. Reflect on how to use your suffering in a way that is redemptive. You may want to journal about this. What defines your life – your limitations or your relationship with God? Reflect on how God is good to you all the time. Make a list of those things for which you wish to express gratitude. Make a second list on how you will be good to others.
How will you proclaim with your life that Jesus is risen and lives among us? How do you share life with those around you, especially the poor? Christ has become our paschal sacrifice; let us feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
- 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
An Intentional Minute...
A Summer Blessing Let’s put ourselves into the hands of the Lord, and pray that God will bless us and our families during the wonderful months of Summer. May we all help make our home a place a relaxation, joy, love, peace and safety. May we be generous and considerate, not thinking only about ourselves, but helping others enjoy the blessings of a summertime. – Source: St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Join us as we pray for one another! Send your prayer requests for friends and loved ones to the E-mail Prayer Network. Write the Ursuline Partnerships office, 8001 Cummings Road, Maple Mount, KY 42356 Call 270-229-2006 • E-mail associates.msj@maplemount.org • Visit www.ursulinesmsj.org
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